Council goes back on vote

Chapel Hill Town Council members were applauded Monday after reversing a decision to offer health insurance to departing members.

Mayor Kevin Foy acknowledged that the council "made a mistake" in extending the benefits.

"The best way to deal with a mistake is to admit it and do what you can to rectify it," Foy said.

Council members are eligible to participate in the town's health insurance plan for full time employees while they serve.

The council's initial vote would have allowed council members to continue their health benefits after leaving office if they had served two full terms. The town would have paid 75 percent of the costs.

The 8-1 vote, with council member Matt Czajkowski opposing the measure, prompted opposition.

"There was nothing to alert taxpayers that this was coming," he said. "Fairly or unfairly, the almost universal reaction was that the council tried to slip this one through."

Council member Mark Kleinschmidt said he agreed with Foy that the issue should have been open for greater public discussion.

The ordinance was on the council's June 9 consent agenda. Items on the consent agenda usually are voted on without discussion, although any council member can remove an item on the agenda for discussion, which Czajkowski did.

The council was considering the issue after member Bill Thorpe asked the town to study what elected officials in other towns receive.

A committee on health care found that the demands of serving often require many to work part-time, making them ineligible for insurance through regular employees.

Kleinschmidt said it's been a goal of the council to make serving on it an option for everyone.

"It's always going to be a sacrifice for people to run for office and serve, but it shouldn't be a place only for the wealthy," he said.

"I do believe that there were important reasons to do what we had done," Kleinschmidt added.

The council approved a property tax increase the same night it approved extending the benefits - a "perfect storm" scenario that exacerbate the situation, Czajkowski said.

But he added that it isn't clear how much of the negative reaction was about this particular issue, or whether it is representative of general frustration with the council.

"Was this an isolated incident or was the intensity of the reaction driven by broader and deeper frustration and anger?" he asked, adding that the council's reversal will comfort many.

"It'll just make people feel better, and that's not insignificant."

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